


Say You'll Stay

by KrystalMoon



Category: Strange Magic (2015)
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-13
Updated: 2021-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-20 17:15:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 17,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30008265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KrystalMoon/pseuds/KrystalMoon
Summary: Aftermath of the canon movie;The Fairy King is unhappy with Dawn and Marianne's choice in partners, and he puts his foot down. Stuck between a rock and a hard place, Marianne has to either subject herself or her sister to a life of unhappiness in order to keep their kingdom strong. Neither option sounds favorable to the headstrong Fairy Princess, and she will take the kingdom on it's own path if she could.(Set fic to Mature as a precaution in case it's necessary later.)
Relationships: Bog King/Marianne (Strange Magic), Dawn/Sunny (Strange Magic)
Comments: 17
Kudos: 11





	1. A Choice

* * *

**A Choice**

* * *

Marianne flew over the briar bush, her honey colored amber eyes searching for Bog. She spotted Stuff, the smaller deep greenish blue female amphibious looking goblin, and Thang, a male fish goblin with uneven teeth that stuck out. They waved excitedly at her as she landed near them with a gentle flutter of her purple emperor butterfly wings.

“Where is Bog?”

“Here, Marianne,” replied the familiar accented voice of the Bog King. 

She turned around and resisted the urge to run up and hug him. It was only recently that they had confessed their feelings to each other, having only just fallen in love, and Marianne was still trying to figure out what was ok and what wasn’t ok. Dawn told her to stop worrying so much, but deep inside, Marianne worried that once both Bog and her got past the walls they had placed around their hearts, would they still be in love?

_ “Oh, Marianne, of course you will. Stop worrying, silly,” Dawn would say. _

At first glance, he really wasn’t what a fairy would be attracted to. He had some fairy-like features, like wings and such, but the Fae was so tall, and had exoskeleton armor. He looked closer to a dragonfly with goblin-like features. But his crystal blue eyes were fairy-like. He was hunched a bit, as he normally was when standing around smaller creatures. He still towered over them, but he would be extremely tall if he fully straightened out. Well over a head or two above Marianne if she remembered right.

“Uh, hi,” Marianne waved.

“Hi,” he laughed nervously. “We’re almost done setting up. Uh… Would you like to see?”

“Yes, I would.”

With a hum, his dragonfly wings began to vibrate and he floated for a second, waving for Marianne to follow him. She kicked off the ground and flew around. She didn’t have the wings to just float in place like he did, but she could flutter.

“We’ll just patrol the border, boss,” Stuff volunteered.

“Have fun!” Thang called out before Stuff tripped him.

Bog ignored them, zipping off towards the direction of the old remains of the first castle, which had been made out of a rotted out old tree trunk. Marianne followed behind.

She wondered why it was so awkward between them still. They had confessed their feelings, after all. He seemed so confident and sure of himself before they fell for each other. Even when Marianne came smashing through the skylight to duel him, Bog had been cruelly playful, taking great amusement in the fact that Marianne couldn’t overpower him no matter how hard she had tried.

Before Roland and his stupid army had arrived, Marianne was certain they had gotten almost too careless with one another, and without knowing each other well, Bog and Marianne both fell hard and got hurt again for it. Breaking back through the wall was hard, and Marianne thought perhaps this was why things were a little awkward. Perhaps they were still keeping each other at a safe distance apart.

The way he looked at her when they expressed their feelings was the same way he had looked at her when he placed that flower in her hair. His heart shining through. 

Bog landed in front of the remains of what had been a natural bridge to his castle, interrupting Marianne’s thoughts abruptly. She brushed a hand through her dark brown hair. It was starting to get longer and in the way when she flew.

“There is not another fallen tree as far as I could search for one,” Bog said grumpily. “So, we are going to try to build a new one.”

“Have you tried to ask my dad for help?”

“I’m not going to-.”

“Why not? You are allies now.”

“We were never not allies, Princess,” Bog said carefully. “The relationship between our kingdoms was strained, but we were not at odds.”

“So why won’t you ask my dad for help?”

Bog stared at her, an eyebrow raised, his mouth open in a frozen retort. He shook his head and rolled his eyes.

“You have a very naive look on the state of things,” he said quietly. “Help does not come without a cost. I would owe the fairy king.”

“You already owe him,” Marianne murmured, crossing her arms. He glared at her. “It was just an idea.”

“You should leave the thinking to me, Princess.”

“What does that even mean?!” Marianne snapped. “What? Do you think that just because I’m a girl that I can’t figure out a way for both kingdoms to work in harmony?”

He laughed at her a little unkindly. Marianne felt her cheeks burn hotly, her temper flashing in her golden-brown eyes like a fire. With a quick flutter, she landed directly in front of him, leaving Bog very little personal space. His wings twitched out in surprise as he flinched.

“You’re so stubborn. Maybe you wouldn’t be in this mess if you had accepted my Dad’s offer of becoming part of the fairy kingdom years ago,” Marianne snapped, poking at Bog’s chest armor angrily with a finger.

“If you think tha’ was a good idea, then ya  _ really _ ‘ave yer wee li-uhl ‘ead stuck in the clouds,” he growled down at her, his accent becoming thicker the more agitated he got.

“How is it not?” Marianne demanded vehemently, stomping her foot.

He growled at her, baring his sharp teeth at her defiance. She glared back up at him, not backing down a single millimeter, but a smirk tugged at the corner of her face.

“Cut that out,” she covered her mouth, suppressing a giggle. “You know it’s hella sexy when you do that.”

“Hmph, brat,” Bog snorted, rolling his eyes. Marianne noticed the corner of his mouth twitch. Then he shook his head and looked at the pile of rubble in the deep, dark hole that had once been his castle.

“Without treating me like I’m stupid, because I’m not…” Marianne began stepping out of his space and gesturing dramatically. “Please explain to me why combining the kingdoms wouldn’t work.”

It was quiet for a moment. He seemed to be thinking.

“I have an idea.  _ You-.”  _ Bog pointed at Marianne. “-explain to  _ me-.”  _ He pushed a thumb against his chitin-armored chest. “-why it wouldn’t work.”

“You don’t know?” Marianne bemused.

“I do know,” he said. “But I’m asking you to play devil’s advocate here.”

“Ok…?” Marianne took a deep breath, then walked up to the edge of the abyss. There was a long moment of silence.

“What would happen after our kingdoms combined?” he encouraged.

“Well, uh... naturally you’d have to step down…” Marianne said, shrugging. “Dad would insist on ruling both…” She couldn’t see anything wrong with that.

“Look at how I rule my subjects versus how your father does. Look at the social hierarchy.”

“What do you mean?” Marianne looked up and behind her at Bog.

“The elves are segregated. They are not part of higher society.”

“Well, of course not. They aren’t as strong or as powerful as fairies…”

“In the Dark Forest, all goblins are equal. No matter what size, shape, or ability.”

“Except for you.”

“I-.” He froze a moment, his mouth still open with a retort he had just abandoned.

“You are leading the Dark Forest naturally because of your ability, power, and they respect you for it. It’s no different than our society,” Marianne shrugged. “I still think you’re being stubborn.”

“Then we have nothing more to say on the matter. I will not accept help from the Fairy Kingdom, nor will I ever consider combining the two kingdoms together and… Stepping down.” His wings vibrated in irritation at the prospect. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have plans.”

Without missing a beat, his wings went from vibrating to buzzing and he took off, leaving Marianne by herself.

This was not the outcome she had had in mind.

In truth, she had imagined herself ruling, as she was the crown princess of the fairy kingdom. The only way she could feasibly marry the Bog King was if he accepted her as the ruler and gave her the Dark Forest. Being married but still ruling separately would create far too many problems.

Bog really didn’t mean to hurt her feelings, as he had no idea the direction of her idea. But suddenly, Marianne didn’t want to share that idea in fear that in his stubborn kingly pride, he would say something hurtful. Or worse.

What really shook her though was that she had apparently irritated him so much that he hadn’t even shown her what they had set up so far. Or even where. Did she already ruin things?

She took a last look at the rubble of the castle, feeling tears welling up in her eyes, then she took off with a forlorn sigh, leaving to return home.

｡☆✼★━━━━━━━━━━━━★✼☆｡

“Marianne!” Dawn greeted her as soon as she entered the castle, hugging her sister happily. “Dad wants to talk to you… What’s wrong?”

“Nothing…” Marianne said quietly.

“You look like you’ve been crying. Did Bog hurt you?” She looked horrified, her blue eyes widening.

“No-no. It’s not that…” she said quietly. “I don’t want to talk about it yet.”

“Well… Ok then. But promise me you will?”

“I promise.”

Marianne gave her sister a hug before she left. When she entered her father’s courtroom, his throne was empty as he paced back and forth. He acknowledged her entry happily enough, but there was a bit of terseness to his greeting.

“Marianne.” The old, grey haired fairy looked at her and placed a hand firmly on each of her shoulders. “As you know, I am getting old. It’s getting closer to time for me to step down.”

“I have raised both you and Dawn to be able queens, I thought, but…” He drifted the sentence off into a sigh and shook his head. He dropped his hands from their shoulders and frowned. “Unfortunately, there is a bit of a problem.”

“What problem?” Marianne pushed. She never liked it when he started to beat around the bush.

“While I wouldn’t normally have an issue with a political marriage between us and the Dark Forest, you are the crown princess. I could very easily make Dawn the crown princess, but the issue with this is…  _ That elf.” _

“I can still be the crown princess and marry Bog, if that was the direction we wanted to go,” Marianne added, dropping her gaze to the marbled floor. After the fight earlier, it’s possible that everything was ruined between them and that likelihood was gone.

“It’s not feasible,” the fairy king dismissed with a wave of his hand. “I’m sorry, Marianne. I need you to do the right thing here. I know you have feelings for that  _ hideous monster, _ but I can’t have you continuing any relationship with him any further.”

Marianne’s amber eyes widened in shock, going completely numb at the words “hideous monster.”

“J-just make Dawn the crown princess, then,” Marianne said after she recovered. “What’s the problem with Sunny?”

“An elf can’t be anything but a royal consort. The throne needs a king and I have no sons to take the throne.”

“The throne doesn’t need a king… Just because we are female doesn’t mean-.”

“There are more kingdoms out there than just ours and the Dark Forest, Marianne. If this kingdom goes without a king we will be seen as weak,” he snapped at her impatiently. “If I have to make this a royal order, I will.”

“A royal order for what?”

“I will force you to marry someone of my choosing if I have to. As the crown princess it is your royal duty to continue my royal bloodline as our ancestors have done. If you refuse, I will be forced to take action and Dawn will marry someone of my choice. The throne  _ will _ have a king and that is final.”

The Fairy King’s words echoed loudly throughout the throne room, bouncing and puncturing holes into Marianne’s heart as they did so. She was stuck between a rock and a hard place here. Either she gets her heart broken for her father’s wishes or she is responsible for Dawn’s heart breaking.

“W-well just give me more time. I can take the throne and then find someone.”

“Absolutely not, Marianne. I will not give up the throne until I have a new king to replace me.”

Her temper was starting to boil up, her face felt hot.

“And why can’t I marry the King of the Dark Forest.”

_ “Are you serious, Marianne?!” _ he yelled exasperatedly. “Are you listening to yourself? The Bog King. That  _ monster?!  _ Running the Fairy Kingdom?! I would rather give the kingdom over to that  _ bloody elf.” _

“Fine then. I’ll be back,” Marianne snapped, whipping around to run out.

“Marianne!”

But she had already passed through the doors, slamming them shut loudly behind her. Dawn had been listening at the door of the room and followed after her sister, whitefaced. Marianne didn’t stop until they were outside.

“What are we going to do?” Dawn asked, clutching at her arms anxiously. She was already crying. “Why is this happening!?”

“Don’t worry, sis… We’ll find a way to fix this,” Marianne said angrily, glaring in the direction of the Dark Forest. “Come with me. Let’s go find Bog.”

“Okay…” She clutched Marianne’s hand tightly and they both took off for the Dark Forest. “Are we running away?”

“It’s a probability if it must come to that…” Marianne snarled. “Dad has completely lost it.”

Dawn pulled her hand away from Marianne’s. Marianne stopped and looked back at her, questioningly.

“Let’s go get Sunny, then. I don’t want to leave him behind.”


	2. Something Has to Give

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heads up: Emotional rollercoaster and some cussing

* * *

**Something Has to Give**

* * *

“That’s pretty messed up,” Sunny said for the tenth time since they had told him what happened. The elf scratched at his scalp under his lady-bug hat. “I mean I don’t know anything about leading a kingdom. But I’m a smart guy, I’d like to think. I could learn quickly if he just taught me how to do so.”

Dawn nodded in agreement and leaned against him.

Rather than walking, Sunny borrowed the lizard from Pare. It certainly shortened the time it would take to cover the distance between the Fairy Kingdom and the Dark Forest. Marianne was lost in thought the whole time, unsure of what to even say to Bog. Would he even let her talk? Would he still be upset with her?

“Marianne?” Dawn touched Marianne’s elbow. “You listening?”

“Hmm?” The dark haired fairy princess looked back at her blond sister. “Sorry, I was thinking to myself. What did you say?”

“I said ‘we’re at the border.’”

Marianne looked around. So they were. The archway made from the roots of the trees wasn’t the only entrance to the Dark Forest, but it was the most direct one from the meadow. With a heavy sigh, as they passed underneath it, she looked around for signs of a patrolling group of goblins or mushrooms.

She spotted a line of mushrooms not far from their position. With a flutter of her purple wings, she flew off the lizard and approached the first one. It looked up at her as she landed. It was unreliable getting a complicated message through the mushrooms. Not that the mushrooms were incapable of passing the message, but when it got to Stuff or Thang the message would be misheard in some way.

“Make sure this gets to the Bog King.” The mushroom looked up at Marianne and nodded gently. “‘Marianne needs your help.’”

｡☆✼★━━━━━━━━━━━━★✼☆｡

“You’re right. It’s not much, but we can make a home out of it, dear,” Griselda said, patting her son on the arm affectionately. The short goblin walked up to the nearly completed castle. This one was certainly more sturdy than their last one. This one looked a little more subtle too, as it was built under the roots of a nearby massive tree, carved into geodes and stone. Some of the hallways had a cluster of varying colored crystals. The largest room had been a huge rock with amethyst in it. They added more amethyst crystals to it and Bog had decided to make that his new throne room.

Because the purple reminded him of Marianne.

Bog winced a little. Once she visited next, at least he could show her the nearly completed work. He was certain she would be impressed with it. Would she come back?

Bog clutched his staff tightly, mindlessly following his mother inside.

“I take that back, I love it!” she said loudly, clapping her hands together. “It’s larger than the last one too, it seems like! I like the little waterfalls in the entrance hall. Making use of a natural spring! Brilliant.”

But he wasn’t listening. It was starting to get late and the forest was getting darker. All day he had been preoccupied with his troublesome conversation with Marianne. Was he just being stubborn?

“Are you listening? You aren’t still worrying about Marianne, are you?”

He was, but Bog didn’t acknowledge it.

“Sire! News from the mushrooms!”

Stuff and Thang ran up from behind them. Bog didn’t turn around or acknowledge them either except to stop walking.

“What is it this time?” Griselda muttered, crossing her arms. “This better be important.”

“Uh, is it important?” Thang asked Stuff in a whisper. “I don’t want to get hit again.”

“It sounded important,” Stuff replied, not bothering to whisper. “Tell him.”

_ “You _ tell him.”

“He likes you, remember? Better if you tell him.”

“Oh, yea. Wait, you’re not trying to trick me again, are you?”

_ “Someone _ better tell me and quit wasting my time,” Bog growled impatiently, punctuating his demand with a strike of his staff against the floor as he turned around to face his two henchmen angrily. Stuff elbowed Thang in the ribs.

“Ow! Ok ok.  _ Ahem _ !” Thang cleared his throat and raised a fish-claw as if to emphasize it’s royal importance. “Merry man leads poor kelp!”

Bog blinked at Thang a moment, staring at him with annoyed bemusement and absolutely dumbfounded at whatever the heck he was actually trying to say. He said it in his head a few times, trying to make it sound like something that made sense.

“Merry man leads poor kelp?” Griselda repeated quietly. “That doesn’t-.”

Bog’s eyes got wide.

_ “Marianne needs my help!?” _ Bog hissed, lunging forward to the entrance, zipping away as fast as possible.

“No, that’s not what they said…” Thang started to call out, but then he drifted off into thoughtful silence. He looked at Stuff. “Right?”

Stuff shrugged her shoulders. “Beats me.”

｡☆✼★━━━━━━━━━━━━★✼☆｡

The lizard followed the direction of the mushrooms, careful not to step on them. Marianne flew overhead, looking for signs of the Bog King or a new castle being built. Dawn held Sunny tightly as they made it around the trees and spiderwebs. This was the first time she was seeing the Dark Forest at night, and it was scary.

A loud humming noise caught Marianne’s attention. At first she didn’t really notice it because it was subtle, but after a moment it had gotten loud as if it were approaching fast. She turned in mid air, trying to find the source before Bog practically crashed into her.

“Marianne!” he shouted worriedly at her, grabbing her by the arms and looking at her all over. He let go and zipped around her as she fluttered in mid air. “T-they said you needed my help?” Marianne nodded as Bog noticed movement beneath him and looked down and saw Dawn and Sunny sitting on top of a lizard. “What’s going on?”

“We’re running away,” Dawn called up.

“What?” he asked, confused.

“We haven’t decided that yet, but.We-… I need your help... Please.”

Bog’s silvery blue eyes looked at Marianne’s golden amber eyes which were widened with worry and brimming with fresh tears. He pulled her close, into a protective hug, guiding them both down. She tried to keep it together, but her mind made her consider the idea that this could be the last time she’d see Bog ever again. Thankful that he wasn’t angry with her anymore. Happy that he came to her aide as near immediate as possible. So much emotion overwhelmed her that she clung to him and closed her eyes. She felt a large, rough hand against the back of her head then she felt him land. He lowered her gently and looked down at her.

“Our dad is trying to force us apart,” Dawn explained. “He told Marianne that she couldn’t be with you and is going to force her to marry someone else. And if she refused…”

“Then he’s breaking me and Dawn up,” Sunny said crossly. “I don’t care what he says, I ain’t breaking up with Dawn. He can make all the executive orders he likes but I think it’s _ fuckin’  _ wrong.”

“Sunny!” Dawn said, covering her mouth.

“Sorry…” he murmured sheepishly, rubbing his neck shrugging. “I’m just mad about it…”

“What can I do about it?” Bog asked carefully.

“You have to do something,” Marianne said desperately, her wings fluttering in a panic.

“Coming here like this put my kingdom into jeopardy by itself, princess,” Bog reasoned. “There’s not much I can do that can make this any better.”

“Please,” Marianne begged, reaching her hands up to his face. Through her tear filled eyes, she saw him lean forward. She closed her eyes as he kissed her forehead softly, then brushed her tears off her face with one hand, his large rough clawed fingers sending oddly comforting tingles against her soft cheeks, his other still curled protectively around her and holding his staff.

“Is there really nothing you can do?” Dawn asked timidly.

Bog said nothing. He was distracted entirely by the usually sassy and headstrong punky fairy princess he had been in love with now completely gripped with intense anxiety and clinging to him desperately as if he would disappear at any moment’s notice. Bog’s rough face was between her palms. His eyes looked torn, his leaf-textured brow furrowed in deep thought, a frown pulling down at his lips.

“Bog,” Marianne said softly, her voice trembling through the one syllable. Any resolve shattered instantly. He picked her up with a sweeping motion and his wings vibrated to life. Marianne dropped her hands to his shoulders and gave a soft, quiet yelp in shock.

“Come with me. We have a few rooms available for the night,” he said in a professional tone, motioning with his head for Dawn and Sunny to follow him.

They flew low and slow enough to allow the lizard that Dawn and Sunny rode to keep up with them. They were discussing something quietly that Marianne couldn’t hear. Or even if she could, she was only paying attention to Bog.

｡☆✼★━━━━━━━━━━━━★✼☆｡

Marianne was in an exhausted daze. She had only been vaguely aware of them getting to the new castle. He had not yet once put her down. Goblins showed Dawn and Sunny to their rooms, or room, and now it was just her and Bog as he stepped heavily down a stony hallway, crystals glittering with magical light around them, lighting Bog in varying hues. He adjusted his grip on Marianne to set her down close to him, an arm still curled around her tightly, protectively. A door opened behind her. With a soft flicker of his wings, he picked her up once more and brought her in, shutting the door with a foot, and pushing his staff up against a wall nearby.

He crossed the room and set Marianne down on something comfortable and soft. She looked at the bed. It was made of moss and soft leaves and petals. Bog straightened and turned, and immediately Marianne shot a hand out to grab his. He looked down at her in surprise.

“Don’t leave,” she whispered softly.

“I’m not going anywhere, silly girl,” he responded gently, patting her hand. “This is my room. For now, anyway.”

She felt her cheeks burn slightly as she realized he had had every intention to keep her close by without her request. She let go of his hand and he circled around to the other side.

Fairies only needed sleep every once and a while. Usually just to replenish their magic and energy. Today had been particularly draining on Marianne. She looked up at Bog with sleepy, heavy lidded eyes, as he started twisting and cracking various parts of his body.

“You have bones,  _ and  _ an exoskeleton?” she wondered.

“Blessing of being half-goblin and half-fairy, I guess,” Bog said conversationally, popping his neck before sliding into bed beside her, propping himself up on his forearms next to her so he could look down at her. He hummed a little. “A little different than I pictured it…”

“What?”

“This,” he said thoughtfully. “I didn’t think it would be after an emotional day, though I did imagine me carrying you. For different reasons… Ah, you’re blushing.”

Marianne covered her face with her hands. Him pointing it out made her face burn even hotter.

“How did you picture it?” she asked through her palms.

“No, I’m afraid that’s a secret.”

“That’s not fair to keep secrets from your…” She suddenly drifted off. What was she to him, exactly?

“My… My what?” he asked, gently pulling her hands away from her face with one hand.

“What exactly am I to you?”

“My beautiful disaster. My tough girl. My Marianne. My love,” he answered quietly. He smiled and laughed awkwardly after. “I keep forgetting how nervous you make me feel sometimes.”

“Nervous? Why nervous?” Marianne looked up at him with concern in her eyes.

“I’m still waiting for you to scream and run away in horror, calling me a hideous monster.”

Marianne winced painfully, reminded of what her father had said.

“I don’t think you’re hideous or a monster.”

“Liar,” he hissed. Marianne saw his expression had hardened up and wondered if he had misunderstood her expression. He looked moments away from leaving, but she raised a hand and started tracing the angular features of his face.

“I’m not lying, Bog.”

She leaned forward and kissed his cheek, then the tip of his nose, then his lips. He stared at her, wide eyed.

“Okay, okay,” he said softly. “I believe you.”

There was tension between them. Her heart ached and pounded in her chest for more contact.

“I love you,” they both said in unison. Then laughed at themselves. Then Marianne leaned forward again to kiss him.

He broke. Whatever self-control he had been keeping was gone, and he responded hungrily, angling his face so he could deepen the kiss. A rough hand found her waist and slid down her leg, hooking behind her knee and tugged it over his hips. Her leg fit between his plates there and his hip as if it were made just for her. She let out a soft involuntary moan in the back of her throat as he dragged his claws roughly against her leg and back to her waist, pulling her tightly against him. He responded with a deep, throaty growl and positioned himself over top of her.

But Marianne wasn’t ready for that. Not after today. Not yet. She broke the kiss and tried to push him off her. At first he didn’t notice, as he was about to switch his attention to her neck, but then he looked down at her hands splayed against his chest.

“Marianne? Are you okay?  _ Marianne?!?” _

The rush of emotion, the whole day. Marianne didn’t fully understand why, but she started sobbing. Bog immediately adjusted himself to untangle from her then cradled her close to him.

“Shh-shh-shh,” he said gently. “I’m sorry if I went too far…”

“N-no it’s n-not that…” she whispered past her crying. “I am s-scared to lose y-you.”

“You’ll never lose me, Marianne,” he said quietly. “This isn’t like you at all, tough girl. What’s got you so worried?”

“I’ll l-lose you if-f Dad forces m-me to marry someone else.”

Bog was quiet for a moment.

“I’ll still be here, Marianne. No matter what happens and no matter who you marry,” he said quietly.

“N-no I’m not doing that to you or myself,” she snapped.

“That’s not being responsible,” he admonished.

_ “Screw _ responsibility. I want  _ you! _ I want to marry  _ you!” _

“Marianne…” his voice and expression were void of emotion.

“Don’t you want me, too? Don’t you want me to be your wife?” Her voice trembled in pain, threatening tears once more.

“O’course I want yeh! O’feckin’-course I want yeh to be my wife!” His accent thickened as he snapped into an agitated mode. Bog growled, baring his teeth. “Yeh know what? Fine. You win, clever girl. I give up.”

“Bog…?”

“Just go to sleep. I’ll fix this,” he grumbled, pushing Marianne away from him firmly, but gently. He ignored her trying to stop him. “Go to sleep,” he said again.

“Where are you going?”

“I’ll be back. Get some shut-eye.”


	3. Don’t Worry About a Thing

* * *

**Don’t Worry About a Thing**

* * *

“This place is still a little too scary for me,” Sunny murmured, rubbing his arm and looking over to Dawn. “I know that Bog King is our ally right now, but every time I look at him all I can think about is him trying to kill me and you getting kidnapped…”

“What ever happened to ‘don’t worry about a thing?’” Dawn said, grinning over at him. When he shook his head at her, Dawn’s smile slid off her face. “Sunny… He’s different now, remember?”

“People don’t change just like that, Dawn…” Sunny said darkly.

“Love can change people like that,” the short-haired blond fairy said softly, sliding up closer to Sunny and adjusting his ladybug headband that circled his head.

“Do you remember anything when you were on the effects of the potion?” Sunny asked her. It was a question he was dying to know but never wanted to pressure her until now. He couldn’t handle it anymore, he had to know. “Did he do anything to you?”

Dawn actually giggled at him, and started to pet his hair that stuck out up and behind him in a permanent cow lick. It was actually quite soft despite its resistance to any other hair style.

“I do remember,” she said, closing her big sapphire blue eyes and smiling sweetly. “He refused my love-sick advances. At first he threatened me, but I remember not feeling like I was in any danger. It could have been the potion, but he kept telling me how evil he was. It was like he was over-compensating, trying to convince himself how evil he was and I saw through it.”

“You always see the good in people,” Sunny agreed glumly. Dawn opened her eyes and kissed Sunny on the cheek, making his milk chocolate-colored cheeks blush.

“You should have seen his face when I gave him a boutonniere I made him,” she giggled. “If you notice, he still kept it. He really is a big softy on the inside. I knew even before Marianne told me what happened that he had been hurt. Give him a chance, okay?”

“I still think he’s creepy looking.”

“Sunny,” Dawn admonished.

“What?” He twisted to look back at her and shrugged. “He’s twitchy like a spider is. It kinda freaks me out. Plus he’s weird looking.” He wrinkled his nose in disgust.

“He’s different, but once you look past all that, you realize he’s actually quite adorable looking, I think.”

“I will never find him adorable.”

“That’s okay, though. Just be nice to him for me?” Dawn poked his nose gently with a smile that made her eyes sparkle. Whatever they were talking about Sunny didn’t care about anymore.

“Uhm. Sure.”

“Thanks Sunny,” she hugged him around his head, pulling him close. Sunny flailed out when he felt like he was losing his balance, but the elf relaxed into the hug. Despite the circumstances he couldn’t help but feel happy.

｡☆✼★━━━━━━━━━━━━★✼☆｡

Marianne had tried to stay awake, despite Bog’s direction to not wait up for him. But she must have passed out after a while because she woke up to the sound of the door opening and shutting and the noise of a metallic staff being placed against the wall. Soft but heavy steps approached, then the bed compressed.

His hand touched her cheek soothingly.

“Everything will be ok, now, Marianne,” he said warmly, his tone only just above a whisper. He gently caressed her face, softly dragging the tips of his claws against her skin is a way that tickled. Somehow that gesture made it impossible to stay awake. He cradled her against his stiff natural armor plating. It was warm and comforting in a way that she couldn’t describe.

“What did you…?” Marianne managed to ask against the thick darkness of exhaustion.

“Shhh, love. We’ll talk about it in the morning.”

“Bog… At least give me a general idea, otherwise I will be too anxious to actually fall asleep,” she muttered, starting to wake up a little more.

“It’s a good thing. Now sleep.” It wasn’t a satisfying answer, but it did ease her worry. If she could fight it any more though, she never knew. She passed out before she could think of a retort.

｡☆✼★━━━━━━━━━━━━★✼☆｡

Marianne woke up a little to something heavy and warm draped over her. She adjusted her position a little to stretch, feeling a little stiff. The heavy thing curled tightly around her, pulling her close to it.

At first it startled her, but in that moment, as she felt someone breathe deeply in and let out a sleepy sigh, she remembered where she was.

Only slightly disoriented, Marianne opened her eyes enough to see Bog curled around her, only touching her with a protective arm. She sighed contentedly and adjusted herself to the side. He must have woken up a little because he lifted his arm to allow her to move. She hiked a leg up over his hip and he adjusted himself closer. Marianne peeked at his arm, realizing that he had one under her head like a rough pillow. It wasn’t uncomfortable, surprisingly. His shoulder armor seemed to have adjusted itself accordingly, as it didn’t seem to be impeding his comfort at all.

She reached up to touch the exposed soft tissue between his shoulder and his pauldron. The texture was different from his plates, smooth rather than rough, and was noticeably warmer.

He moved fast, catching her hand suddenly. He looked down at her through half-open sleepy blue eyes.

“Sensitive,” he murmured, squeezing the palm of her hand with his rough thumb in a reassuring way. Marianne must have looked surprised.

“Oh… In a bad way?”

“In a ‘I’m not ready to wake up yet’ way,” he corrected sleepily. He closed his eyes and seemed to drift right back off to sleep, his hand still gripping hers to him.

There was a handsome quality about him Marianne couldn’t quite grasp. He had a strong jaw, and prominent chin. Although his eyes were closed, he had blue eyes. He was also very tall. Marianne frowned. These were all qualities that if they had been on a fairy would have been quite attractive. There were scars from old wounds on his lower lip going down to his chin and his eyes were sunken in, nearly always casting those beautiful blue eyes into shadows. His exposed skin on his face and neck looked like the pale color of the underside of a mushroom, and everywhere else looked like the texture of dead leaves and bark. Along his chin there were uncomfortable looking tiny spikes that almost looked like it could be passed as beard stubble, but they were too far and few between. The same kind of spikes were on his legs. His feet were shaped weird too, with one prehensile toe. His natural armor looked uncomfortable to sleep in, she thought, but it wasn’t as if he could remove it. He was either always naked or never naked, and it was hard to tell which. His pointed ears were tiny compared to her long ones.

She went back over his slumbering form with her sleepy amber eyes, searching for reasonable explanations as to why she found this fae attractive.

His head looked like a pinecone of dead leaves rather than having hair. His face had creases in it like wrinkles around his mouth. Marianne frowned, wondering briefly how much older he was than her. Dawn had only just become of-age a few years ago, Marianne only a couple years ahead of her.

Roland had been older than her too by quite a few years, but not enough to show any wrinkles. But that was because he used things and probably would use glamor to hide any wrinkles or defects if he ever had them. Disgustingly passing himself as younger and more attractive than the chauvinistic pig he was.

Marianne shook her head slightly and returned her attention back to Bog. if she had to guess, Bog was about ten or so years older. He looked younger when he smiled at her, but much older when he scowled. It was hard to tell.

His neck was thin, but he had a visible adam’s apple. His thorax was strong looking, but he had a thin abdomen. His hips were armored and pointed out and his legs were long and thin. Marianne’s eyes travelled shyly to his groin area, wondering briefly how that would work, but she looked away unable to see anything at this angle anyway. It didn’t look like he had anything down there so why was she blushing so hard for?

The brunette fairy’s blush deepened as she remembered running her fingers up and down his black and how he had reacted to it sensitively. He had looked so unabashedly turned on by that. He must have parts somewhere. Goblins copulated the same way that fairies do, didn’t they?

“Stop being so dirty, Marianne. Get a grip on yourself!” she hissed at herself in her head.

The goal was to figure out what the heck she was finding so attractive, not get distracted by her attraction to him.

She looked him up and down a couple times before just giving up.

He was attractive to her in a way she couldn’t begin to even explain to herself. She could argue it was his personality over his looks, but she remembered when they sparred how he was oddly attractive even then to her. Perhaps there was just no direct answer.

She told herself to quit worrying about it.

She freed her hand from his gentle, large grasp and started running her fingers slowly over his face and neck. His skin there was warm and very silky soft. Where it darkened into the rough part of his head and his armor felt as rough as his hands. Almost like wood, but not quite. The sparse small spikes along his jaw were sharp and hard. Not at all like beard stubble.

He growled and furrowed his brow after a moment, startling her. “Yer not going to let me go back to sleep, are yeh?”

Marianne ran her hand along his naturally armored chest, before going back up to his neck. Then she angled herself to kiss his neck. The warmth there and gentle rhythm of his heart beat intrigued her. He moved and pressed his leg that was between Marianne’s thighs up, pushing himself closer. She ran her lips along the silky smooth part of his neck, a curious idea forming in her mind. How sensitive was he? She opened her lips and nipped at his skin. He inhaled sharply through his nose and he moved to grab her leg roughly, his claws digging into her thigh as he pressed himself hard into her hips. Then he let go and moved away.

“Alright-Alriiiight,” he groaned through his teeth, sitting up and stretching, turning his back to her before hunching and rubbing his face. “I’m awake already, yeh sleekit beast.”

She reached out and touched his lower back. He flinched involuntarily and looked back at her.

“Are you mad?” she wondered.

“No,” he laughed. “Why would I be?”

“Because I woke you up.”

Bog adjusted his seated position so he could look more directly at Marianne. He seemed like he didn’t know what to say to that. He seemed torn by silent thoughts in his head, but there was some heat in his icy-blue eyes that made Marianne think that he was having a bit of trouble being comprehensible to himself. Something made a look of irritation flicker across his features.

She sat up and grunted in pain. He looked worriedly at her, a questioning look on his face.

“Oh, I slept in my armor… No wonder I feel stiff,” she muttered. “Why didn’t you take this off me last night?”

“I-what? Why would-? But-?” He stuttered incoherently for a second before giving up covering his face in his hands.

“What’s wrong, Bog?”

He grunted in reply, shaking his head. Then stood up and popped more joints, prepping them for the day

“Alright, let’s go,” he said, turning and holding out a hand for Marianne to grab. She giggled at him as she took it, and he smiled awkwardly.

She decided she kind of liked it when she made him feel nervous. He looked grumpy, though.

He led her down to the throne room. As they were passing through the rocky cave encrusted with glowing crystals, Marianne looked him up and down from behind. His armor was only interrupted by his four wings. He walked with a hunch, uncomfortable with his height perhaps. She could see the indents in his armor where his spine would be. It was quite bumpy looking. She again reminded herself of how she had dragged her fingers along his rough chitin there and how he had reacted. But then she noticed something odd.

“He doesn’t have a butt?!” she exclaimed to herself inside her head. Well, more correctly, he had a butt. But it was so tiny and flat. Marianne thought she’d be disappointed at first, but as he walked, his hips swaying back and forth, she became fascinated with the rhythm and the way his hip bone stuck out. His leg armor sticking above that creating that perfect alcove for her to hitch her legs through.

She got so lost in thought over it that she didn’t notice Bog had casted a glance back at her over his shoulder until he turned around. Nearly walking right into him, she stopped and stared up at him in shock, her cheeks burning as she realized she had been caught, her heart hammering in her throat.

Bog didn’t say anything but looked at her with a raised eyebrow. Then he gestured for her to go through a doorway she had been too busy not noticing.

Marianne walked through in stiff awkwardness, feeling like she was on fire all the way to the long pointed tips of her ears. 

The throne room was huge, with large, glowing purple crystals jutting out around the place and a large one in the ceiling like a chandelier. Marianne’s jaw dropped slightly as she wheeled around, looking at every inch of the large expanse. The place had a beauty to it that distracted her enough to forget her embarrassment and a smile touched her lips. Bog was watching Marianne’s in-awe reaction with relish, clearly pleased with her fascination. Marianne especially liked the natural spring water trickling through to a few reservoirs around like tiny waterfalls. It was all very soothing.

Dawn and Sunny sat in a corner and were already deep in discussion between them. Marianne spotted them and walked over.

“-. Well, we could, but if that happened we would have to worry about the other kingdoms,” Dawn said worriedly.

“Why do they have to get involved with everything?” Sunny asked exasperatedly. 

“They always do, it’s just not a good idea.” Dawn looked up at Marianne and Bog. “Good morning you two!” she sang happily, smilingly brightly.

Bog grunted grumpily as Marianne took a seat next to her sister.

“We’re discussing plans. I was thinking about staging a coup...” Sunny marketed.

“We were not discussing that,” Dawn corrected. “I was just telling Sunny how bad of an idea it was.”

“That won’t be necessary, anyway,” Bog said dismissively. “Last night I left for a while to have a little talk to the Fairy King.”

Marianne had almost forgotten that Bog had left last night at all, as if it had been a dream.

“You did?!” Dawn’s blue eyes widened in shock.

“What?!” Marianne asked at the same time, startled. She and Dawn exchanged worried glances. “What happened?”

“We had a few much needed discussions about the state of our borders and the future of our kingdoms,” Bog said with a shrug. “More importantly, about the leadership of such.”

“You staged a coup?” Sunny asked, as if Bog stole his idea.

Marianne thought about correcting him, as that was not how coups work, but Bog cut her off before she could even open her mouth to retort.

“No…” Bog looked at him and raised a brow. “I asked him for Marianne’s hand in marriage and offered a merger.”

“You asked for…” Marianne’s eyes widened as her sister squealed happily and hugged her. She was suspicious of what was discussed. “But he was against the idea before, why did he change his mind?”

“He didn’t think I would be open to the idea of a merge between the Dark Forest and the Fairy Kingdom,” he said, shrugging. “And he was right, up until yesterday I had no desire to even consider the idea.”

“What made him change his mind about us?”

“You should ask him, yourself,” Bog shrugged. “In the meantime, Marianne, if you would come with me? Dawn, Sunny, when you are ready, your father wants to talk to you both. We will be following in a little bit.”

“Of course!” Dawn released Marianne from her hug and took Sunny by the hand. “Come on, Sunny!”

“Wait so he was suddenly cool with Dawn and I?”

“He was only going to break you two up if she was taking the throne,” Marianne reminded him quietly.

“Right… Because he didn’t want an elf to be king,” Sunny said grumpily.

Marianne didn’t correct him that he’d never have been king. If nothing else, he’d have been a consort at best, but her dad’s problem was that he was absolutely against the idea of a female on the throne.

His limited knowledge on how the fairy court worked reminded her of Bog pointing out the differences between the kingdoms. If a merger did happen, goblins would be treated probably even lower than elves were.

Filing a mental note, Marianne decided she would get rid of the stupid class system that had been in place if she had the chance. She never understood it farther than the reasoning of fairies having more power and strength. It just seemed unnecessary.

Marianne followed Bog over to his throne. Had it not been for him, she’d have never considered such an idea. She had never thought to consider it before. She’d been pampered and privileged, but her recent adventure to the Dark Forest had made her consider perspectives outside her own.

“Do you like this room?” he asked her nervously.

“Yea it’s… Pretty.” Marianne suddenly grew nervous herself.

“The purple of the crystals reminded me of you,” he said quietly.

There was a moment of tense silence between them.

“Marianne,” Bog took her hand and guided her over to the throne. He motioned for her to sit down. She adjusted her wings out so she could without crushing them, and looked up at the Bog King expectantly. “I have a lot I'd like to say, but not everything has to be said right now. In an alarmingly short amount of time, you took my solitude and more than quite literally destroyed it.”

Marianne grinned sheepishly. 

“I wouldn’t have entertained the thought of joining the Fairy Kingdom and the Dark Forest together for any amount of time prior to meeting you,” Bog continued. “But now I find myself considering it. I still worry for the future of the kingdom, but if we share the throne, something tells me we’ll handle it just fine. You still have a lot to learn about leading a kingdom, but we can journey down that path together, if you’ll allow me to be at your side as your king?”

She grimaced painfully, remembering Roland’s proposal to her not all that long ago. They had definitely rushed into it, and it ended horribly.

“Marianne?”

Then here comes someone else, after she had promised herself she’d never fall in love again. After picking herself up off the floor and dusting herself off, here comes another. Sure, Marianne felt he was different. But would he be the type to cheat on her? Is there a type? Bog seemed largely attracted to goblins, as his first love had been a long frog-like goblin Marianne looked nothing like.

Marianne looked at Bog in the eye, searching for an answer. His expression was anxious, and she remembered he was waiting for an answer.

And what happens next?

Say she said yes and they got married. What would happen if either of them changed. Would they still be in love?

“Marianne…” Bog broke her from her thoughts.

“I’m sorry, I…”

“If it’s too soon, we can wait.”

“No we can’t. We don’t have time. It’s not that anyway…” Marianne shook her head. Bog waited patiently. “I just… Anxious over getting engaged again.”

“Yea…” he looked away. “I am, too.”

“What? You were engaged before?” Marianne stared at him incredulously.

“You remember Sugar Plum’s story?” he asked, straightening up and dropping her hand.

“Yes…”

“She left out details, of which I was thankful at the time.”

Marianne looked up at Bog’s blue eyes. They seemed a little darker than normal, but it could have been the purple light from the glowing crystals. He looked sad.

“What kind of details…?”

He sighed deeply and looked away, his face echoing old pain.

“You don’t have to tell me,” Marianne offered quietly.

“No,” he shook his head. “It’s pertinent. Just give me a moment.” He rubbed the back of his neck and straightened up. “The girl I fell in love with. We were engaged. We were… We were already in love but… Something changed and she started acting weird. We started arguing a lot. I thought Sugar Plum’s love potion would help save us, but it didn’t… We just weren’t meant to be… The last thing she ever said to me was that no one could ever love something as hideous as me.”

Marianne’s eyes widened.

“So… You only found out recently that she had been cheating on you…”

“When Sugar Plum said why the potion didn’t work,” he said nodding.

“I found Roland with another girl… I had no idea he had been cheating on me until I caught him… I know how that feels…” Marianne said quietly, crossing her arms loosely in front of her.

They were quiet for a moment, dwelling on their mutual understanding of one another.

“Well, then let’s take this adventure together,” Marianne said. “I hope you know I already wanted to, I just felt anxious.”

“Yea… I know,” Bog said quietly, looking at her with a sad smile. “No harm done.”

“Sorry if I’m not so traditional about getting engaged.”

Bog laughed, brightening up immediately, he turned and offered his arm to her.

“You forgot already that I love you for your quirkiness,” he chuckled. “Come, let’s at least make this thing official.”

Marianne hesitated a moment before standing up and accepting it.

She looked up at Bog who was staring forward as they walked and she wondered if she was making a mistake. Fighting through scenario after scenario where she imagined anything that could go wrong, she ultimately decided that if she was making a mistake that she would just learn from it and move on.

There wasn’t any point to worrying over it anymore, anyway. They had bigger things to worry about.

Like the future of the two kingdoms.


	4. Echoes of the Past

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tw: Some eludes to sexual misconduct by a certain “Prince Charming.”

* * *

**Echoes of the Past**

* * *

Dawn and Sunny hadn’t gone too far before Marianne and Bog had caught up with them. They decided to travel together, but they went with unusual levels of silence and apprehension. Marianne flew alongside Bog during the trip home, noticing Dawn shooting worried glances up at her as she and Sunny rode the lizard back.

When they got to the fairy kingdom’s castle, things seemed a little more tense than usual. Marianne was used to uptightness, but they all had their hands on the hilts of their swords and beat their wings at them in warning. Bog was ignoring them, but Marianne wondered if the night before what he did that had them all worked up. Breaking into the castle would surely earn a bit of a side-eye but nothing more if he was pardoned. This just seemed like he  _ did _ something to put them on guard even after a pardon. Though Marianne reminded herself, he was the king of the Dark Forest. Perhaps this was just residual judgmentalism.

Marianne walked in front of him. Remembering earlier when he caught her staring at him, she tried to slyly look behind her to see if he was staring but was disappointed to find Bog looking at the paintings and architecture. Feeling silly and a little upset, she didn’t check back again. It wasn’t a long walk anyway.

All four entered Dagda’s throne room where he waited as if he never left when Marianne had run out of there the day before. He was pacing back and forth, worry lines etched on his forehead under his golden crown overtop his white-grey hair.

“Bog,” he greeted tersely, before grabbing ahold of both of his daughters into a tight hug. The hug was made uncomfortable by his green and gold plate armor he always wore. “Sunny, you can leave now, this is a family matter.”

Sunny turned around to walk out, sticking his hands in his pockets. Dawn looked back at his retreating figure and fluttered her pink and orange monarch butterfly wings, flying over to him before touching his shoulder gently. He stopped and looked up at her.

“Dad, he is part of the family now, too,” Dawn said pleadingly over to him.

_ “What!?” _ The Fairy King stared at his youngest daughter, his emerald green eyes widening.

“Sunny asked me to marry him,” Dawn smiled sadly, tears beginning to form in her big baby-blue eyes. The Fairy King’s mouth opened several times as he processed this.

“Dawn if your mother was still around…” he said more to himself than to her as he closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Fine.” He raised his head and looked up at them, gesturing wildly, annoyed. “Why the hell not? Marianne goes off and gets herself engaged to the neighboring King and Dawn takes leave of her senses and gets engaged with a commoner.

“I pray that you’ll never have any daughters,” he snapped angrily at Bog. Bog looked uncomfortably at him for a moment, shrugging his pauldrons.

Marianne felt her cheeks burn as she reflexively considered the idea of children between Bog and herself. Unfortunately, Bog decided at that moment to glance over at her making her face burn even hotter.

She had her hopes that he wouldn’t notice, but from the look on his face, his brows raising high, Marianne knew immediately that he understood perfectly what was going through her mind. He cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck, looking away and out the window. If he could blush, he likely would have then. Marianne took a second look at his cheek bones. It could be her imagination, but they did appear to be darker. Maybe he was blushing.

“Dawn...” her father said after a moment of thought gathering. “There was something I wanted to talk to you about. I was hoping it would be in private, but if you insist…”

Dawn and Sunny exchanged worried glances before looking back up at her dad.

“Yes, Daddy?” Dawn asked expectantly.

“If you continue this relationship with him, you can no longer be a princess. You will have to forfeit your royal title, Dawn.”

“You can’t do that!” Sunny shouted. The Fairy King glared him into silence immediately. Sunny dropped his gaze to the floor and wrung his hands anxiously.

“What?” she mouthed silently. Dawn looked paler than usual, her eyes widened and her ears drooped a bit low.

“He’s a commoner,” the Fairy KIng said as if this was enough explanation.

“But… Why would that…?” Dawn looked despairingly at her sister, her eyes wet with tears.

Marianne folded her arms and looked away from her. There was nothing she could do to make this better.

“I’m sorry… That is how it’s done,” her father said.

“Can’t you change it?” Dawn asked, her voice breaking.

“I can’t, I’m sorry…”

Marianne looked over at Bog. This was the kind of thing he had been referring to. The politics and ridiculous class system. Sure enough, he had a scowl on his face now.

“If I have to choose I’ll have to choose him over -.”

“Dawn, wait,” Marianne cut her off. “Father… We don’t have to make an announcement on their relationship.”

“They are already seen in public, Marianne, I cannot allow this to continue any further than it already has,” he said exasperatedly. “He’s an elf!”

Sunny’s expression went from angry to absolutely lost. He hung his head and walked away.

“It’s okay, Dawn. I’ll just… I’ll see you around, I guess.”

“Sunny, no!” Dawn reached out and grabbed his shoulder but he shook her hand away.

“Hey.” He looked up and smiled sadly at her. “Don’t worry… About...”

Even after he left, Dawn stood staring after him, broken, frozen in despair, her hand shakingly still reaching out to him. Then she started moving, holding her chest with both hands, as if trying to keep it from ripping apart as her face contorted in a deep and depressing sorrow that had never been there before. She leaned forward as if she were about to collapse.

Bog was the closest to her. Reaching out, he caught her immediately, and pulled her against him, supporting her with little effort. The Fairy King looked torn, hands falling limply at his sides.

“Breathe, Princess,” he said soothingly to her. She did. A sharp inhale.

Then she screamed. Marianne clapped her hands over her ears, flinching back and closing her eyes tightly shut. It was still loud even when muffled. She opened her eyes to see Dawn thrashing her fists against Bog, kicking and punching whatever she could reach, tears streaming like tiny rivers down her reddened face. He was restraining her stiffly, keeping her close so her attacks wouldn’t end up hurting herself. Her gold and pink wings beat angrily as she fought against him. His mouth was moving, but Marianne couldn’t hear what he was saying.

Guards came bursting in as she gradually silenced into hiccuping moaning sobs, her thrashing ceasing as she looked up at Bog.

“I know, it’s hard,” Bog said gently, one arm embracing Dawn and the other patting and rubbing her softly on her upper back between her flexing wings. “It's ok to cry. Let it out. Let it all out.”

“Get out,” the Fairy King gestured angrily at the guards.

Dawn hid her face against Bog’s chest, hiding away from the guards and accepting his comfort, her wings folding down. The guards back tracked quickly, shutting the doors behind them once more.

“I’m sorry, Dawn…” their father said worriedly.

“I hate- you,” Dawn sobbed quietly through her hiccups, starting to turn towards him, her face passing from sorrow to rage.

“Dawn!” Dagda exclaimed in shock, his green eyes widening.

“Shh-shh-shh.” Bog swiftly captured her attention by gently guiding her face back to look up at him. Then he pressed his finger to his mouth. “I know you are very angry right now, but don’t say things you won’t be able to take back.”

Marianne had been silent through the whole exchange, her honey brown eyes wide and in shock. She blinked a few times.

“Marianne,” her father began, turning to her, his face a noticeable enraged red. “I have arranged with Bog that our kingdoms will unite and we had agreed that it’s best that this happens at the same time as your wedding. I’m getting far too old for this,” he added grumbling. “We can make arrangements for any time, but the sooner we get that out of the way, the sooner I can retire.”

“Yes, father.”

“And, provided your sister regains some of her senses,” he added, looking over at Dawn. “We can find her someone new-.”

“That won’t be necessary,” Bog spoke up, flicking his wings in irritated response. Dawn looked up at him. “Leave that detail to me.”

Marianne repressed a smile that threatened her lips. She knew Bog well enough now to know that he intended to allow her to marry Sunny. Her father didn’t believe in true love, but Bog knew what it was like.

“Bog,” her father nodded. “I will leave it up to you then. This is an unusual situation that I have not ever experienced before in all my many years, so rather than a coronation I will simply hold a ceremony between the border of the two kingdoms where we will sign the treaty deal. I don’t want to rush you, but the faster we complete both the less likely we will raise suspicion with the other kingdoms.”

Bog nodded, sagely.

“I’ll return to my castle in the meantime,” Bog stated.

“I’m coming with you,” Marianne said, walking off. She ignored her father who started to call after her.

“Me, too,” Dawn said venomously. Marianne heard footsteps like someone running softly then felt Dawn’s hand grab onto hers.

The three of them left their stunned father behind in the throne room, sputtering and cursing about wishing he had had sons instead.

Once they cleared the castle and was out of earshot of guards, they stretched their wings.

“Where are we going?” Dawn asked hesitantly. “The Dark Forest is that way.”

“Looking for Sunny,” Bog replied, looking back at her. “Ah, there he is.”

He zipped down and landed sharply in front of a very hunched over elf. Sunny yelled out and flailed in reaction, his eyes wide.

Dawn landed beside him and collapsed onto her knees, hugging him tightly.

“Dawn…?!”

“Don’t leave…” Dawn whispered.

“But…”

“We’ll discuss this later,” Bog said quickly. “Get the lizard and let’s get going back to the Dark Forest.”

“Now we really are running away,” Dawn said miserably. “For good.”

“At least until I am King over both kingdoms. We are definitely making changes around here,” Bog snapped. He took off to join Marianne who was hovering in the air. “Quickly.”

｡☆✼★━━━━━━━━━━━━★✼☆｡

They got back a bit late. Another exhausting day and in need of a recharge, Bog helped Dawn to her and Sunny’s room, and after a brief pass down from Stuff and Thang, retired with Marianne to his quarters.

Bog laid on the bed while Marianne sat on the edge. Both were silent for a while and neither moved.

“You can have your own room, you know,” Bog said quietly, an arm resting behind his head.

“If you are uncomfortable?” Marianne had never considered his comfort and felt immediately guilty over it. She moved to stand up, but Bog quickly grabbed her wrist.

“I am comfortable with yeh here, I was more worried about yer comfort levels,” he said, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips. His accent was showing through again, though he didn’t seem irritated.

Marianne looked down at him for a moment. She was hesitating between her discomfort of undressing and the discomfort of staying in her armor. With a delicate sigh, she kicked off her boots and undid her straps, sliding out of her hardened petal tunic. Underneath she wore a silky black undershirt with golden embroidery. She left her black and gold leggings on.

Then she clutched at the edge of the bed and looked down at her feet. She felt Bog move, then she felt him touching her back, tracing her spine. His rough fingers tipped with sharp claws sent a thrill of goosebumps through her for a moment. But it was not enough to completely get her mind off things. Marianne sighed.

“Do yeh want to talk about it?” he asked quietly, his tone rumbling deeply.

“I just feel like there’s a lot of pressure on me right now.”

Bog moved again and both his hands slid along her waist, tugging her back into him. He was kneeling on the bed, hunched over here, pressing his lips against her shoulder.

“Let me handle it, tough girl.”

“Bog, what are you…?”

“Distracting you.” He said. She felt him smile against her shoulder.

“You’re not distracting me, enough.”

“Hmm…”

He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her tightly against him bending so he instead pressed his face against the back of her head. It reminded her a bit of when he had an opportunity to look at her from behind and never took it. This in turn reminded her of his expression when he caught her. She swallowed a growing lump in her throat and clenched her fists.

“Bog…?”

“Hm?”

“You’re not attracted to me,” Marianne accused quietly. “ _ Are _ you…”

He tapped his fingers against her shoulders for a moment. Marianne registered that as a confirmation based on the fact he had to think about it.

“I know I’m not the most beautiful creature you ever saw…”

He froze for a moment. Then he moved away from her. Marianne looked back at him. He was scowling at her.

“Dae whit-noo?” he demanded thickly.

“Well, you… You didn’t look at my ass, for one.”

He looked completely taken aback.

“D-Didna lookit yer…?” He stuttered once he recovered. “Aye, I did. Several times!”

“I never saw you.”

“O’course not! otherwise that defeats the purpose of sneakin’ a wee peek. I’m not shameless.” He grinned teasingly, sticking his pointed tongue out between his sharp teeth.

Marianne felt her heart jump in place.

“You’re pretty for a fairy,” he teased, spreading his wings to wiggle them at her.

“Hmph… Wish I could say the same.”

“Ouch, Princess.” He pressed a hand against his chest.

Marianne crawled closer to him, closing the short distance off. She pushed him down onto the bed and crawled over him. He looked up at her curiously.

“Well, you can be pretty if you want, but I think you’re sexy,” she smirked.

“Oh, yea rae-!” He got cut off mid sentence by Marianne attacking his lips with her own. He lifted his hands up to her waist. At first, Marianne thought he was going to push her off, and it was likely that had been his first reaction. But instead, he began feeling its dip with his rough hands, the movement of his thumbs sending a delighted shiver through her spine. His lips worked against hers softly, contrasting sharply against the activity on her back, his fingers curled, sharp points dragging against her soft skin under her undershirt just beneath her wings. But his other hand is what made her arch her back and collapse against him as it dipped underneath her leggings.

There was electricity arcing and burning between them, drawing them closer to each other like magnets, Marianne’s heart hammering in yearning to be loved by this fae forever.

As if he had picked up on that, he stopped his progress under her clothes, his caress frozen mid-movement. Then he backtracked. He grabbed her waist and pushed her back firmly. He looked up at her gently, reassuring her with a warm smile. Then with firm hands, he directed her to her back, straddling her from above.

Marianne stared up at him, her eyes wide, anxiety bubbling to the surface and interrupting her euphoria.

“Marianne?” Bog asked worriedly.

“No, it’s okay,” she said trying to push back against her fears.

Roland had pinned her down.

Marianne shook her head, trying to clear the memory away, but it played regardless.

It was before. When she thought she had to. She didn’t want to, but she said yes because she was scared of saying no. She froze up. Powerless. Not strong enough. Broken. Disgusting.

“Marianne, I’m here,” said a soothing deep accent.

Marianne’s eyes were wide, tears she never remembered spilling seeping down the side of her face as she stared up at the troubled-looking Bog King. He was closer to her, his body hovering just above her, but only one of his hands was touching her gently, stroking her cheek with a thumb.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“It’s alright if you’re not ready-.”

“I am!” She could feel herself shaking. “Please.”

“Marianne,” he said gently, his eyes shifting from one of hers to the other.

Irrational fears stemming from her past brought her to sobs. She begged Bog over and over again. He seemed to only be silently observing her, unsure of what to do.

“I have to… Or you’ll-.” She choked on her sob, cutting herself off, her face contorted not too far unlike Dawn’s earlier that day.

Bog lowered himself onto her, the heaviness of his armored body completely rendering her motionless. Marianne gasped at how heavy he was, but he remained propped up on his elbow one warm hand still against her cheek. But he didn’t grind into her. He seemed to only be weighing her down.

“Marianne…” He said her name again, gently.

_ “You’re going to be my wife, it is your duty to please me.” _

Marianne shook away Roland’s voice that echoed in her head.

“I have to, it’s my duty.”

Bog’s face seemed to almost click in understanding, a hardened look locking up his expression, his eyes glaring.

“No, it is not your duty,” Bog corrected her.

“You’ll leave me if I don’t. Or cheat on me.”

“I will do none of those things.”

“But-.”

“That’s enough, Marianne,” he stated firmly.

“I’m sorry-!”

“Enough,” Bog repeated. “You did nothing wrong.”

“Promise me you’ll stay.”

“What?”

“Say you’ll stay.”

Bog stared at her, his mouth open in a frozen question.

“I’m not going anywhere, Marianne.”

｡☆✼★━━━━━━━━━━━━★✼☆｡

They had both woken immediately up to the sound of the door bursting open. The tremor of the door sent his staff clanging off the wall. In immediate response, Bog lurched upward, pulling Marianne against him protectively, a rumbling growl in his chest. Her head bounced against his pauldron only a little painfully. She was already seeing stars from sitting up so fast so she couldn’t tell.

“Sire!” Thang ran in, eyes wide. Stuff was right behind him, wringing her hands. “Sire! A-an a-!”

“Spi’it out!” he snapped in a rush, his voice a little bit of a higher octave than usual. “What is it  _ now?!” _

“An army, your majesty!” Stuff interjected over Thang. “A large group of them, too!”

“Father wouldn’t-...”

But Bog was already moving. He moved Marianne off him and picked up his staff. Without even looking back at her, he stormed off, his long legs carrying him fast down the luminescent hallway. Stuff and Thang both ran after him as fast as they could keep up with their short and stubby legs.

Marianne got off the bed and picked up her sword. She hesitated, looking down at her tunic on the floor, deliberating too long. She decided it was better to be prepared. She rushed out, still throwing her boots on. Bog would easily leave her behind.

Her feet pounded against the ground, her wings fluttering behind her as she fought the urge to unfurl them completely. She was faster in the air but there was no room to spread them out. Her legs were slow. As her heel made contact, she repeatedly told herself she was “too slow” to the rhythm.

_ Too-slow-too-slow-slow-too-slow! _

There was a turn she remembered was coming up but took it too early. Groaning angrily, she knocked over a passing goblin _ (“Hey! Watch where you’re going!”)  _ on accident as she back tracked a bit and took the correct turn this time.

She burst outside, pushing past a gathering of goblins around the entrance and took off into the air looking around wildly.

“That way, love,” called out Griselda from beneath her. She pointed left of the entrance off into where the half-moon was sinking at. With a flutter of her large purple wings, she burst into speeds she shouldn’t be going at, desperate to catch up with Bog. Hopefully he didn’t take any turns.


	5. The Bogfather

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: This gets very dark. I guess I’m flexing my M rating now...

* * *

**The Bogfather**

* * *

A long time ago, when Griselda was a beautiful young goblin with full horns, the Dark Forest had no king. The goblins roamed in the unclaimed territory of wild untamable forest, sandwiched between the spring fairies to the west, the autumn fairies to the east, the winter fairies to the south, and the summer fairies to the north. Occasionally, the kings of either kingdom would send scouts or a royal convoy through the forest for one reason or another. The goblins mostly kept to themselves during such events, but one particular day, Griselda spotted the most beautiful fairy she had ever seen.

It was love at first sight. At least for her. The fairy never once noticed her, but she was convinced if he had he would have fallen for her instantly, too. Desperate for a solution, Griselda turned to Sugar Plum, a hermit archfae with powerful magic who would make a love potion out of a single primrose petal.

Griselda and the prince fell in love, and got married, against his father and his kingdom’s wishes. He got forcefully exiled to the Dark Forest and stripped of his title. After a long couple of years worth of pregnancy, Griselda gave birth to their son.

Somehow during this time, the ex-prince of the Autumn fairies broke free of the potion’s grasp. In a rage, he nearly killed Griselda, leaving her heartbroken and bloodied, her beautiful horns snapped into pieces.

Convinced the potion failed her, she blamed Sugar Plum for the event. She never heard from him ever again.

Raising Bog single-handedly was not difficult, as her son was brilliantly gifted and easy to raise. He possessed a natural leadership quality which would later become useful. It was time the Dark Forest had a leader, anyway.

Most of the kingdoms accepted the Bog King’s claim on the Dark Forest, mostly out of disbelief that anyone could tame such a wild expanse of goblins.

Bog’s cynicism grew worse and worse with his position. As he grew older, Griselda feared he would never find love. He had tried, like herself, to use a love potion on a goblin girl he had fallen for, but it didn’t work at all. Convinced it was because he was hideous, he demanded Sugar Plum be brought into the dungeon for lying to him. Then there was an imp who got ahold of the potion and spread it around. They never could catch that imp, but the resulting chaos made Bog officially ban love in the Dark Forest. It would not be a repeated episode.

Several years passed, and Bog’s attitude got more sour and generally angry.

Griselda was convinced she could find someone for him to love, not wanting her beloved son to go without a partner and be so sad and alone. That’s right around when that elf, Sunny, broke into the castle and made another love potion.

But had he not, Bog wouldn’t have met Dagda’s daughters, Dawn and Marianne, the spring fairy princesses.

Between Dawn’s gentle and sweet innocence, and Marianne’s punky and rebellious cynicism, they melted the ice surrounding Bog’s broken heart, and finally, carefully, he fell in love with Marianne.

He refused to believe she was in love with him, until she admitted it later directly. He still had his doubts of it being real despite reaching a peace with his past.

Now things were starting to pick up the pace. With a destroyed castle, the kingdom of the Dark Forest appeared weak and defenseless.

And the vengeful autumn king was well prepared to take advantage of the circumstances. With adept precision, he launched an attack in the forest. But their goal was only to distract long enough.

Marianne had absolutely no clue about who or where the other kingdoms were, as Dagda had raised his daughters in a protective bubble in hopes to keep them naive and give the throne to a knight or other male noble who was knowledgeable already.

As Marianne shot past Bog’s position in a tree as he was scouting, he began to curse Dagda profusely as he burst into action.

Something heavy slammed painfully into Marianne, pinning her into one of the trunks of a large tree, a familiarly rough hand pressed tightly against her mouth. Marianne was about to get upset when she noticed Bog’s concerned expression and general twitchiness as he peered every which way.

Then he saw the convoy beneath them. Marching on the ground. Nowhere near the size the patrols had apparently reported. Bog frowned. On his way over, he had been careful to look everywhere, nobody could slip past him. Could they?

Marianne squirmed, looking desperate.

Bog was distracted, and as stars burst into his eyes, pain exploded in the back of his head, he fell unconsciously at her feet. Marianne screamed, enraged, at the dragonfly winged fairy that had just clubbed Bog from behind with a bark-armored fist. He easily deflected her sword, grabbing her forcefully, subduing her against himself painfully.

“You’re one of Dagda’s daughters, aren’t you?” he asked, unphased by her kicking and punching. “Two birds with one stone. Won’t he be pleased.”

“What the hell is your problem!?” Marianne snarled her arms pinned against her sides painfully by a barked arm.

“You don’t have a lot of manners, do you?” he tsked. The audacity of the double standard this Fae had was enough to make Marianne stop struggling to twist her head around and glare at the amused fairy male.

“Oh, I have manners,” she said coldly, narrowing her dark purple painted eyelids. “But you are currently restraining me.”

“You rushed me, I had no choice,” he shrugged.

“You knocked out Bog for absolutely no reason. I had no choice.”

“He needs a little girl to defend him?” he laughed unkindly.

“L- _ little?!” _ Marianne repeated in a growl. She forcefully jabbed her elbow into a soft spot under his arm, and kicked down at his inner leg. He let go in surprise with a sharp “oof.” Whirling in midair, Marianne brandished her sword at him. “Listen, I don’t care  _ who  _ you are. If you think I am some poor little damsel in distress, you are in for a big shock.”

Everything about this fairy looked familiar. The dragonfly wings and armor in a generally similar shape that appeared to be growing from his skin was all just like Bog. Though Bog’s armor was more like chitin, and seemed a lot sturdier. The fairy’s eyes were a silvery grey, his flesh the same pale shade of the inner sapwood of a tree, though soft looking, contrasting sharply against his wild, flaming red maple leaves that grew from his head around branches, like antlers, that sprouted forth. His sharp nose and angular features were only a little less pronounced, his long, prominent fairy ears, and blunted white teeth he flashed in an unkind grin that never reached his eyes that was also familiar.

He recognized her distraction and tried to take advantage of it, but Marianne was quick, smacking his arm away easily with the sword.

“What’s the matter, princess?” he asked mockingly, raising his hands in pretend surrender. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“You look like Bog.”

“Hahaha!” he laughed in a way that, like his smile, never touched his eyes. “Obviously. Lysander is my son.”

“Lys-...?” Marianne stared at him oddly.

“Oh? He never told you his real name? Curious…” he replied, tapping his chin in fake bemusement. “And here I thought you were his mate.”

“I hate tha’ name,” groaned Bog, who was standing up, clutching his staff as he pulled himself back onto his feet clumsily.

“Whatever for?” The fairy seemed to be enjoying himself. Marianne found the behavior to be odd.

“Because it was the name you gave me,” Bog growled. “Now get the hell out of my Dark Forest!”

“Well, well, that’s no way to speak to your father.”

“No father of mine,” Bog retorted instantly. “For what you did to my mother!?  _ Piss off!” _

“My, my, my…” There was a mocking concern in his tone. Marianne was getting fed up with the stuck-up asshole act. “Griselda, wasn’t it? Heh. She got what she deserved and lucky I didn’t give her more for what she did to me, Lysander.”

“Don’t call me that,” Bog snarled, baring his sharp fangs as his wings rattled angrily behind him, his segments in his pauldrons flexing.

“He’s wasting our time, Bog,” Marianne said quietly, still pointing her sword at Bog’s father.

“I’m aware,” he replied, still angrily rattling his wings. “A patrol likely going to the site of a ruined castle that no longer stands.  _ Oh? Didn’t you know we moved places?”  _ Bog’s evil grin was in response to the first true flicker of confusion across his father’s face. “I must have forgotten to mention that.”

“Tch! That hardly matters. Those mushrooms of yours are dumb enough to align to wherever your castle is. The patrol will figure that much out.” His cold grin returned to his face. “After all, I employ an army of subjects far smarter than your  _ goblins _ , Lysander.”

_ “Bog,” _ he corrected, sneering.

Marianne shot a glance down to the small convoy below. They had stopped and were looking up at them in interest.

_ “Marianne!” _

As soon as Bog had called her name out, she already knew her lapse in attention had cost her. Her sword disappeared from her grip, and suddenly she was pinned heavily against bark, the sharp metal of her own sword pressed against her throat threateningly. He was holding her higher so she had no angle on any soft tissue with her elbow.

“Oops, guess you’re a damsel in distress after all,” Bog’s father laughed wickedly.

_ “Seriously?” _ Marianne rolled her eyes, bored. “You’re a pain in the ass.”

“Hehe, firey little one aren’t ya?” His eyes flashed in an uncomfortable thrill as he whispered into her ear. “I wonder how long you’ll last until you break, my little rosebud.”

The rattling in bog’s wings increased loudly as a slimy tongue stuck itself straight into her ear. Marianne instinctively squirmed, the blade against her throat uncomfortable. She wasn’t worried, though. She never had the thing sharpened. It wouldn’t do any damage unless he used the pointed bit against her, and she was in no rush to let him figure that out.

“Nuh-uh-uh, Lysander,” his father chuckled darkly. “Not unless you want to see your mate’s head rolling off her shoulders. I have to say, Lysander, I’m impressed so far with your control.”

What the hell did he mean by that? He jabbed the sword painfully against her windpipe, making her cough. But then she grinned.

“Fool,” Marianne laughed. With a sharp movement, she stabbed him up between his plates with a knife she had just worked out of her boot while he was distracted by Bog. He yelled out and dropped both her and her sword. Grabbing it mid air, twirling and unfurling her great purple wings, she held both sword and knife out, poised for action. “Not as intelligent as your son.”

His father flared his nostrils furiously at her, hatred in his eyes as he clutched at the spot where blood was spilling from. But his face broke back into an unkind smile at the sound of a distant horn.

“Sounds like they found what we were looking for,” he snarled in cruel amusement. “Oh, well. For now… Marianne, wasn’t it? I bid you a farewell.”

“You’re not going anywhere,” Marianne snapped, crouching as if to pounce on him. A staff appeared across her chest as she was pulled painfully against the still rattling Bog King. She protested a moment before realizing the convoy had flown up around and surrounded them from every avenue of direction.

“I’m afraid I am, Princess,” he smiled wickedly. “I had a playdate planned for you, but… I suppose your cute little sister will have to do.”

Marianne’s snarl mixed into the air with his resounding laughter at her displeasure as she fought violently against Bog to free herself. Her efforts increased as they flew away, and he grabbed her wrist painfully that held her knife she was moving to use against him instinctively.

“We have to go back to the castle!” Marianne growled. “If you’re not letting me fight him, we have to go save Dawn,  _ now!” _

Bog neither moved nor spoke. Marianne twisted to glare up at him furiously. She dropped her sword and knife both in surprise.

His eyes were dilated so much his blue eyes looked almost solid black. The rattling of his wings were rhythmic now, his teeth bared. Suddenly he leaned down and buried his face into her neck. His grip on her loosened and the rattling of his wings began to subside.

“Don’t move,” he said through his teeth. “It’s too potent right now.”

“What?! What is too potent?” Marianne wondered, her shock overriding her desperation to go protect Dawn temporarily.

“He releases pheromones to control his subjects. You spring fairies are not built in a way to receive their signals but… It is extremely difficult to ignore.”

_ “I have to say, Lysander, I’m impressed so far with your control.” _

Marianne winced.

“We have to go save Dawn,” she said worriedly. “We don’t have time for this.”

“There is no breeze. Right now the only thing stopping me from ripping your wings off you is your scent.”

“Bog,” Marianne grimaced. “Hold your damn breath a moment, let me get my sword and knife, stick your face back on me and let’s fly out of it. I don’t imagine it’s through the whole Dark Forest.”

There was a moment of silence.

“Good idea,” he said finally into her neck. “It’s hard to think with this stuff swimming in my head right now...”

He sucked in a breath, breathing in the scent of her hair and held it as she picked up her sword and knife, putting them away at her sides. She fluttered her wings and lifted herself up to hug Bog’s face to her. He exhaled quickly and inhaled in surprise. His hands found her thighs as he guided her to wrap herself around him.

“Well, this isn’t helping me think,” he muttered.

“My scent isn’t strong enough?”

“N-no-no it is,” he laughed uneasily. “It’s- uh… Very distracting.”

“Do I have pheromones that can control you?” Marianne wondered momentarily. “Is that why it overpowers his?”

“No,” he said gently, resting his chin against her chest and looking up at her. He lowered her so their faces were not far apart. “I’m in love with you, Marianne. Your scent is intoxicating to me.”

She felt her cheeks burn.

“What do I smell like?”

“Hm…” he furrowed his brow in concentration. “A combination of Lily of the Valley and Lavender. Sweet and soothing with some hints of pine.”

She frowned and sniffed at her wrist, then her collar. She smelled nothing. He chuckled at her and lowered her down to hold her against him so he could fly, sneaking a kiss to her lips. She wrapped her arms around him, folding her wings out of the way. A small smile on her face.

It was somehow soothing, despite the current circumstances to be in his arms. There, she felt safe. A funny feeling to her when she was used to taking care of herself.

As they flew swiftly back, Marianne kept an eye beneath them. She never saw any sign of any other army of fairies, but when they got back to the mouth of the entrance to the castle, they saw it had been breached into. Goblins stood around, clutching themselves together in sorrow, surrounding something in a circle, murmuring amongst themselves.

Bog grew tense immediately, his blue eyes darkening.

“Oh no…” Marianne said out loud, going numb.

The goblins who heard Bog’s wings looked up and retreated away. Revealing a horrifying sight. Marianne’s stomach reeled instantly, completely caught off guard by the sheer shock of it. As they landed her knees gave out and she collapsed instantly against Bog who kept an arm around her to support her, thankfully. Her vision tunneled and swam in and out, her body threatened to completely pass out.

Bog could only stare in frozen silence at the broken remains of his mother.


	6. Pain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Forgive me for my rather “on the nose” chapter title.

* * *

**Pain**

* * *

_  
“Marianne,” Griselda smiled warmly, taking the fairy princess by the hands, pulling her away from Bog momentarily. Marianne looked down at the goblin-woman. “My son has been through misery. It does my heart good to see him smiling like that. Promise to keep that smile on his face for the rest of his life?” _

Marianne couldn’t think straight. Bog had picked her up and was carrying her inside, shouting directions. She couldn’t make out what was being said and it was as if everything was in a haze. Like she was drowning in water.

_ “I couldn’t think of a better future daughter-in-law.” _

Bog clutched her close to him, his claws digging into her shoulder and leg, but Marianne could not feel anything but general pressure.

_ “Don’t worry about a thing, my dear. I consider you a part of our family already. If he ever makes you cry...” Griselda carried off and smacked Bog in the back of the head with her wooden ladle. _

_ “Ow! Mother!” Bog rubbed the back of his head and glared at her. _

_ “Behave!” she snapped at him, wiggling the wooden ladle at him as if warning him that a second hit was coming. _

_ “I haven’t done anything!” he said, throwing his hands up exasperatedly. _

_ “You haven’t done anything  _ yet,”  _ she corrected sagely. “Now eat your soup!” _

Marianne only barely registered that Sunny was alive and holding onto his leg as he hobbled painfully towards them. He said something about Dawn. Marianne couldn’t hold on after that. She felt her eyes roll and her head loll backward. The darkness of unconsciousness took her.

_ “When are you two giving me grandchildren?” _

_ “Mom!” Bog dropped his staff noisily, his expression mortified. “We aren’t even married yet!” _

_ “What the heck are you waiting for? I’m not getting any younger! I want to play with my grandbabies soon.” _

_ “One thing at a time!” Bog covered his face with a hand which made Marianne giggled at him. He slid his hand down to peer at her sheepishly. _

Then she sat up, the haze and muffled noises gone in an instant. The scenery had changed as if she had teleported between blinks. Bog’s hands appeared out of nowhere and gently guided her back down. He pressed a cool, damp rag back to her forehead that had fallen off.

The room was unfamiliar, and the spot she laid upon was stiff. Everything was quiet. Had she been dreaming?

“Easy there, Marianne…”

“Where… Where are we?”

“Just a nearby unoccupied room,” he responded gently. “Everywhere else has been trashed or is rather noisy.”

“I fainted didn’t I?”

“Yes…”

“W-was that really… At the entrance, is she…?” She sat up to clutch at his arm, catching the damp cloth in her other hand. He sighed, his shoulders falling slack a moment and a look Marianne had never seen on his face before now. She’d never seen Bog cry, or even look this close to tears before. It hurt to see such an emotion take its hold on him but she had no idea how to comfort him on this. She had no one to comfort her when her mother died. She let go of his arm and looked away, her face heated. “I shouldn’t have left…”

“Don’t blame yourself, Marianne,” he whispered softly.

“I could have been here. I could have done something useful... Instead I just made a mess of things…” She felt heavy, as if it was just too much energy to sit properly. She slouched miserably forward. 

Without Griselda and Dawn, Marianne and Bog probably would have never expressed their feelings for one another. Dawn… Marianne looked up at Bog, her eyes wide.

“Where’s Dawn?”

｡☆✼★━━━━━━━━━━━━★✼☆｡

“Well this is deja vu,” Dawn said, putting her hands on her hips, as she was released from the sack. “What  _ is  _ it with kidnappers and burlap sacks? I will never understand.”

“Well. Aren’t you a lively little one,” the autumn king said, tilting his leafy head. “Not the sister I had hoped for, but for now you’ll do.”

“Wait… You look kinda like Bog…” She squinted her blue eyes at him.

“That is because Lysander is my son.”

_ “Lysander? _ Who’s Lysander?” She said the name sounded weird. Then her eyes widened.  _ “Wait! _ Wait-woah hold up! Boggy’s real name is  _ Lysander!?” _

The Autumn King looked taken quite aback by her bubbly attitude.

“That’s adorable! He has a  _ fairy _ name!” she said, giggling.

“Interesting…” the Autumn King said quietly to himself. “Your lack of fear seems to be emanating from your ignorance of your current predicament, Princess of the Spring. Let’s correct this.”

He stood up and pointed at one of his fairy subjects. The one he indicated approached, her head down and tears streaming from her eyes. She turned and faced Dawn, her eyes wide with fear. The king’s hands touched either side of her face, and her face screwed up in concentration. She aged before Dawn’s eyes, then finally, with only a gasp, she turned to dust.

Dawn’s smile disappeared in an instant, her face turning pale.

“There… Exquisite fear turning you a beautiful shade of white, my dear,” he said, smiling in mock kindness. “Perhaps I  _ will _ have fun toying with you…”

｡☆✼★━━━━━━━━━━━━★✼☆｡

“Marianne!”

Marianne’s wings beat against the wind, carrying her fast as they could. She could feel her body screaming for her to slow down her pace. She’d already overexerted herself earlier and her muscles felt like painful jello. Bog kept pace behind her, trying to catch up to her since she had burst from the castle.

“Mari-anne!”

His voice was gradually getting farther. If she lost him, he’d stop trying to prevent her from saving her sister. She weaved around trees then hid behind one, taking a moment to catch her breath.

It was a mistake. Exhaustion overtook her, and she became unable to move. The weight of it all crashing upon her like a wave. It had been such a very long time since she cried so hard. So very, very long ago, when she got cheated on by Roland, she promised herself she wouldn’t ever cry like that again.

Was she crying? Or was it just raining?

She looked up, the answer to her question being both. Of course it’s both. Her eyes widened to the form of Bog just standing there in front of her, looking down at her. How long had he been standing there? His expression was hard to read. Was it pity? 

“I couldn’t bear the thought of losing you, too,” he said just above a whisper, his voice choking. The rain pour reached a heavy level, shushing the forest loudly. He leaned over her, hands splayed against the trunk of the tree, protecting her bodily like some kind of umbrella.

“We have to save Dawn…”

“We will,” he replied.

“You aren’t going to stop me?”

“No,” he said as he smiled down at her. It was a sad, small half smile that echoed to his eyes which were wet from rain and/or from tears. “We are stronger together than we are apart.”

They stared at each other a moment in silence. The rain seemed to have gotten louder. Marianne cocked an eyebrow up at him.

“Bog…”

“Hm?”

“That was unexpectedly cheesy coming from you.”

He laughed a little, shaking his head. Then rubbed the back of his neck.

“It’s the truth, though…”

“I know…” Marianne blushed. “We’re wasting time though, we need to go.”

“We do need to rest.” Bog swallowed a lump in his throat. “I can see you are exhausted.”

“No. We can’t.”

“Marianne, we can get there easily. Pushing ourselves will only make us useless when we get there…”

“But the longer we spend dicking around the more likely we will get there when it’s too late.” Marianne’s voice had a desperate note to it. “Please, I cannot lose my sister.”

Bog deliberated a moment.

“We will get there on time,” he said finally. He sighed, as if frustrated. “I know him well enough to know he… He plays with his food…”

Marianne stood up, her eyes widening.

“What!? What do you mean!?”

“He won’t kill her. Not for a while.”

“What is he doing to her!?”

“For sake of your own sanity, Marianne, it’s better that you don’t know.”

“What is my sister going through right now!?” When Bog didn’t answer, Marianne panicked. “Please!”

Bog found it was difficult to say no to her. She could read the pain of being torn between two heavy thoughts on his face. He sighed and pushed himself off the trunk, straightening up, and turning his back to her.

“The first thing he does is remove the wings of his adversary. Then he will terrify them into submission. The more they fight him, the more of a thrill he gets and the longer he prolongs the interaction. He won’t kill her until he gets a response or anything else that he wants out of it.”

Marianne hid how sick this made her feel.

“How do you know this?”

“Who do you think taught me how to be a warlord?”

Marianne stared up at him, a creeping thought entering her mind.

“Have you ever… Done anything like that?”

Bog turned to face her side-ways, his icy-blue eyes looking warily at her.

“Those pheromones he releases are very hard to fight, Marianne…” His quiet defensive deflection from a direct answer was not lost on Marianne at all. “He’s made me do things with and without while I was hardly anything more than a kid. Even to my own mother.”

“Her broken horns…?”

“She never blamed me for it,” he said in a hollow voice. “But I never stopped.”

Marianne and Bog fell into an uncomfortable silence. Even the rain was starting to quiet down to a sprinkle.

“Did you ever get a thrill out of it?” Marianne wondered. “Bog?”

He sighed heavily and started to pace, deliberating.

“I’m… I’ve never been a good person, Marianne. I had the moral compass enough to understand the pain only when it was someone I didn’t want to hurt.”

“So, you  _ are _ evil…?” she said quietly, more to herself than to Bog.

“I have never claimed otherwise.”

As they fell silent, Marianne thought about things carefully.

“Bog…?”

He didn’t acknowledge her. He just seemed to be staring off, unfocused, pain etched into his angular features.

“Roland wasn't wrong when he called me a beast, you know.”

“Roland was and still is an idiot,” she retorted, rolling her eyes. 

Bog laughed at that slightly, looking over at Marianne. It reminded her of something.

“You’re not actually evil.”

“I-.”

“No, and you know deep down inside that you aren’t. For one huge thing, you are capable of feelings and empathy.”

“If I choose to.”

“You didn’t hurt my sister. At all. And you care deeply for your subjects.” To accent her point, she reached up and grabbed his arm. “You know… You’d make a terrible bad guy.”

He snorted at her and rolled his eyes.

Marianne fluttered her wings out and flew to hover in front of him, sliding her hand down his arm to catch a hold of his large, clawed hand. He looked at her warily.

“If you were evil, you wouldn’t be capable of love.”

“You know something?” he said after a long moment. “I think that was more cheesy than anything I’ve ever said.”

The rain had completely stopped then. The brief rest period had been enough for her, and she was ready to continue on. Bog insisted on carrying her, though, to give her wings a little more time to recoup.

“We’re already at the border to the autumn fairy kingdom,” he said to her protest. “It won’t be long enough to tire me out. But also I wasn’t trying to fly faster than butterfly wings were meant to go. Beyond that, I need you.”

Marianne blushed scarlet at that, and he immediately got shy.

“N-not like that! I mean I do but I m-meant… ugh… Your scent overpowers the pheromones…”

She giggled at his embarrassment. After a long moment of flying in silence, Bog seemed curious about something.

“Marianne…?”

“Hm?”

“I was just thinking… Dagda was a reddish blond and Danu was a blonde...”

“Dawn and I are actually half-sisters… But nobody really needs to know that. Our mother raised me as one of her own, anyway.”

“Do you know who your real mother is?”

“Yea… Only by accident did I find out. I don’t think Dad even knows I know…” she said quietly. “My real mother was Morrigan.”

He dropped in altitude in surprise, startling Marianne into a yelp.

“The Raven Queen of the Winter Kingdom…?” he asked.

“I guess…? I never met her.” Marianne shrugged. “I had no idea she was even alive.”

“I could have honestly guessed. You’re almost exactly like her.”

They were both silent again.

“We’re almost there.”


End file.
